Kaliningrad visa-free travel begins Friday

Poles and Russians can move across the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, on Poland's north east border, as of Friday.

The visa-free travel is the result of a bilateral agreement on so-called “small cross border traffic” signed between Poland and Russia in December last year.

The drafting of the final document took four years of consultations and allows the reciprocal privilege for citizens residing no further than 50 kilometers from the border of doing away with troublesome visa applications and enjoying unlimited possibility of moving across the mutual stretch of the border.

Poland's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski noted that the agreement has given some 3 million Poles and Russians the opportunity to travel without visas when visiting.

However, visa free travel does not envisage cancellation of border control between the Polish Pomorskie and Warminsko-Mazurskie provinces and the Russian Kaliningrad Region.

Those found in breach of the rules of the agreement may have their cross border travel permits revoked and receive a ban for applying for a Schengen visa. (ss)